Welcome to North Park EcoDistrict!

Our goal is to cultivate and celebrate North Park as a livable, mindful and inspiring neighborhood with a thriving green economy. Find out what this looks and feels like and how you can advance North Park EcoDistrict!

Energy

Saving Energy has become a top priority for businesses and offers substancial opportunities to lower operating costs. In many cases, the up front spend is very low. There are many no or low cost strategies that can take 10-30% of your energy bill. Check out our recommendations to learn how you can save.

Track your Energy useSet up a free account with SDG&E to start tracking your energy use. You can’t improve what you don’t measure! Sign up for My Account at SDG&E.

Join the Small Business ENERGY STAR NetworkMake the pledge to buy ENERGY STAR equipment and upgrade the energy efficiency of my facilities whenever financially viable. Join the Small Business Energy Star Pledge.

Create an energy strategy for your businessOnce you know how much energy you are using and how much $$$ you are spending, set your efficiency goals. The EcoDistrict team will have a simple Small Business Benchmarking program to help you do just that in Spring 2014.

Think beyond energyDid you know that about 19% of energy is being used to move and heat water? Lowering the thermostat on your water heater saves energy. 120° is sufficient for many common uses. Learn more about water heater efficiency

Raise awareness
Install signs that remind staff and visitors to turn off lights when they aren’t needed.

Save energy by reducing overall lightingReduce lighting where possible and take advantage of natural daylight.

Do a walk through looking for unnecessary lighting- rooms that are infrequently used are a common excess. Turning lights off or dimming them during the day makes a big difference.

Install occupancy sensors.These inexpensive devices can reduce lighting costs up to 40% by turning off lights in unoccupied areas.

Install light level sensors. These simple devices turn your lights on and off depending on how bright the room is. Like occupancy sensors, those devices can be purchased at most ‘big box’ stores or via specialized vendors.

Install LED Exit signs. This can reduce costs of these signs by up to 95%.
Replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs, which can last up to ten times longer. CFLs provide the same amount of light as standard incandescent bulbs, but use up to 75% less energy. They are available in a variety of sizes and ‘colors’ at retail stores.

Follow a routine maintenance schedule to help your air-conditioning equipment run efficiently and last longer. Maintenance should be done by a HVAC Professional. Energy Star provides a helpful Maintenance Checklist.

InsulateBefore you invest in any new equipment make sure that your building is properly insulated and weatherized. Assessing these type of opportunities is a challenging task, you may want to contact a professional consultant to do it.

Rebates and IncentivesSDG&E offeres rebates and incentives for business energy efficiency. See available rebates here.